Method and system for providing information based on context, and computer-readable recording medium thereof

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing information that enables easier and quicker access to an item related to a context of a device, and a computer-readable recording medium thereof are provided. The method includes detecting a context of a device, and displaying at least one virtual space corresponding to the detected context on a screen of the device. The virtual space is a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that is configured to register the detected context and information related to at least one item.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser.No. 16/891,569, filed on Jun. 3, 2020; which is a continuation of priorapplication Ser. No. 15/466,258 filed on Mar. 22, 2017, which issued asU.S. Pat. No. 10,691,300 on Jun. 23, 2020; which is a continuation ofprior application Ser. No. 14/090,422 filed on Nov. 26, 2013, whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,626,097 on Apr. 18, 2017; and which claimedthe benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean patent applicationfiled on Dec. 7, 2012 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office andassigned Serial No. 10-2012-0142238, the entire disclosure of each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to providing information based on acontext. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to providinginformation based on a context of a device.

BACKGROUND

As mobile devices, such as smartphones, are becoming smarter, itemscapable of being used by users based on devices are increasing. Theitems may include applications, services, and content.

However, in order to use items related to a context of the device, userhas to search device for the items one by one. Therefore, there isrequired a technology for enabling a user to more easily and quicklyaccess items related to a context of device.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure include methods and systems for providing information thatenables easier and quicker access to an item related to a context of adevice, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium thereof.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide methods andsystems for providing information that enables easier and quicker accessto an item related to position information of a device, and acomputer-readable recording medium thereof.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide methods andsystems for registering information that enables easier and quickeraccess to an item related to a context of a device, and acomputer-readable recording medium thereof.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented embodiments.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, amethod of providing information based on a context of a device isprovided. The method includes detecting the context of the device, anddisplaying a virtual space corresponding to the context on a screen ofthe device, wherein the virtual space is a Graphic User Interface (GUI)that is configured to register information related to at least oneapplication corresponding to the detected context.

The context may include at least one of time information and positioninformation.

The displaying of the virtual space may include displaying the virtualspace as a virtual page of a first screen of the device or displayingthe virtual space in a predetermined display region of a predeterminedpage of the first screen. The first screen may include a home screen.

An index of the virtual page of the first screen may be displayeddifferently from an index of another page on the first screen.

The method may further include displaying a list including informationrelated to the at least one application, and selecting at least onepiece of information from the displayed list, and registering theselected information in the virtual space such that the selectedinformation is displayed in the virtual space.

The information related to the application may include a shortcut iconof an application, and the registering the information related to theapplication in the virtual space may include linking the shortcut iconwith the detected context prior to storage in the virtual space.

The method may further include, when the context of the device changes,making the virtual space disappear from the screen displayed in thedevice and storing information about the virtual space in the device.

The method may further include, when the context of the device changes,changing the displayed virtual space into another virtual spacecorresponding to the changed context.

The method may further include executing an application in response toan execution request regarding the information included in the virtualspace.

The method may further include deleting information related to at leastone application from the virtual space in response to a deletionrequest.

The method may further include receiving information about the virtualspace from an external device.

The information related to the at least one application may includeinformation in information about a virtual space received from theexternal device, and the information related to at least one applicationincluded in the virtual space registered by the device.

In the virtual space of the device, the information related to the atleast one application received from the external device may be displayeddifferently from the information related to the at least one applicationregistered by the device.

The method may further include at least one of: disregarding theinformation related to the at least one application received from theexternal device, when the information related to at least oneapplication is identical to information related to at least onepre-registered in the virtual space, and displaying informationindicating that the information related to at least one application isregistered by the device and the external device.

The information related to the at least one application may includeinformation related to the at least one application included ininformation about a virtual space received from an external device, and,in the virtual space corresponding to the context on a screen of thedevice, among the information related to the at least one applicationreceived from the external device, information related to an applicationset in the device may be displayed differently from information relatedto an application that is not set in the device.

The displaying the virtual space on the screen of the device may includedisplaying text information representing the context of the device.

The method may further include transmitting information about thevirtual space to an external device connected to the device.

The information related to the at least one application may include oneof a shortcut icon of an application, an application open command, anapplication execution command, an application start command, applicationaccess information, and application link information.

The virtual space further may include information related to at leastone multimedia content corresponding to the detected context orinformation related to at least one service corresponding to thedetected context.

The virtual space further may include information related to at leastone item in a type different from the at least one application, and theat least one item may correspond to the detected context.

The information related to at least one item may include at least one ofinformation related to multimedia and information related to service.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, amethod of providing information based on a context of a device isprovided. The method includes detecting a context of a device, anddisplaying a virtual space corresponding to the detected context on ascreen of the device, wherein the virtual space is a GUI that isconfigured to register information related to at least one itemcorresponding to the detected context.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, amethod of providing information based on a context of a device isprovided. The method includes detecting the context of the device,creating a virtual space corresponding to the detected context,executing at least one item by the device, receiving a registrationrequest signal in the virtual space, and registering information relatedto the at least one executed item in the virtual space.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, adevice is provided. The device includes a context detector configured todetect a context, a storage unit configured to store a program fordisplaying a virtual space corresponding to the detected context and atleast one application, a touch screen configured to display the virtualspace and to receive input information, and a processor configured toprovide a user interface based on the touch screen and execute theprogram for displaying the virtual space, wherein the virtual space is aGUI that is configured to register information related to at least oneapplication corresponding to the detected context.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, adevice is provided. The device includes a context detector configured todetect a context, a storage unit configured to store a program fordisplaying a virtual space corresponding to the detected context and atleast one item, a touch screen configured to display the virtual spaceand to receive input information, and a processor configured to providea user interface based on the touch screen, to create the virtual space,and to register information related to at least one item in the virtualspace when a registration request signal is received through the touchscreen during execution of the at least one item.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium stores one or moreprograms including instructions for executing the above method ofproviding information based on a context of a device is provided.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for providing information based ona context of a device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing informationbased on a context of a device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a virtualspace according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are diagrams illustrating examples of screens forproviding information based on a context of a device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example screen for describing information relatedto item included in a virtual space according to another embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example screen for describing theflowchart of FIG. 12 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the device 110 illustrated in FIG. 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like referencenumerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, the presentembodiments may have different forms and should not be construed asbeing limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, theembodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, toexplain aspects of the present description. As used herein, the term“and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” whenpreceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and donot modify the individual elements of the list.

The present disclosure may include various embodiments andmodifications, and embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and willbe described below in detail. However, it will be understood that thepresent disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and includes allmodifications, equivalents, and substitutions falling within the spiritand scope of the present disclosure. In the following description,detailed descriptions of well-known functions or configurations will beomitted since they would unnecessarily obscure the subject matters ofthe present disclosure.

Although terms such as “first” and “second” may be used herein todescribe various elements or components, these elements or componentsshould not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used todistinguish one element or component from another element or component.

The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing embodiments onlyand are not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. As theterms used herein, so far as possible, widely-used general terms areselected in consideration of functions in the present disclosure;however, these terms may vary according to the intentions of those ofordinary skill in the art, the precedents, or the appearance of newtechnology. Also, in some cases, there may be terms that are optionallyselected by the applicant, and the meanings thereof will be described indetail in the corresponding portions of the description of the presentdisclosure. Therefore, the terms used herein are not simple terms andshould be defined based on the meanings thereof and the overalldescription of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “atleast one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire listof elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

An item of a device that is mentioned throughout the specification mayinclude an application, content, and a service related to a context of adevice, as described below, but it is not limited thereto.

(1) An application, content, and a service that are frequently used bythe user in a previous context identical to a current context of thedevice.

(2) An application, content, and a service that are accessible orexecutable by using information related to at least one item that isregistered in a virtual space by the user in a previous contextidentical to a current context of the device.

(3) An application, content, and a service that are recommended by anexternal device in a previous context identical to a current context ofthe device.

(4) An application, content, and a service that are accessible orexecutable by using information related to item that is registered in avirtual space of an external device in a previous context identical to acurrent context of the device.

When the context of the device is based on position information and thecurrent context of the device is a place A, the previous context may bea place A at a time previous to a current time. The current context ofthe device will be described later in detail in operation S201 of FIG.2. The current context of the device may be referred to as the contextof the device.

The content and the service may be referred to as items in a typedifferent from an application. The application and the service may alsobe referred to as items in a type different from the content. Theapplication and content may also be referred to as items in a typedifferent from the service. This is because the application, content andservice may be defined as being different types. For example, a cameraapplication may be defined as being included in the application, apicture may be defined as being included in the content, and an N-screenservice may be defined as being included in the service. However, anitem corresponding to the context of the device may be defined as anapplication and content. This is because there are some applicationsthat are referred to as services. Since the content may include varioustypes of content, the content may be referred to as multimedia content.

The information related to item may include information related to anapplication, information related to content, and information related toa service that are set in the device, but is not limited thereto.

The information related to an application may include one of a shortcuticon of an application, an application open command, an applicationexecution command, an application start command, application accessinformation, and application link information, but it is not limitedthereto. The application access information and the application linkinformation may be defined as storage position information or UniformResource Locator (URL) information of an application. Therefore, theapplication access information and the application link information maybe identical information.

The information related to an application may be referred to as aGraphic User Interface (GUI) or display information based on thefollowing information:

(1) Thumbnail Representing Application;

(2) Text Information Representing Application;

(3) Icon Representing Application Type;

(4) Application Execution Icon; and

(5) URL Shortcut Information.

The information related to content and the information related toservice may be defined like the information related to the application.Some services may be managed like the application. For example, ane-mail service may be referred to as an e-mail application. The servicemay include, for example, an advertisement service and a paymentservice, but it is not limited thereto.

Input information is user input information, which may includetouch-based input information. The touch-based input information mayinclude a user request, a user selection (e.g., selection of one amongpieces of displayed information related to an application), and a usercommand (e.g., deletion command based on displayed information relatedto an application), but it is not limited thereto.

A touch-based input may depend on a touch-based user gesture. Thetouch-based user gesture may include, for example, a tap (or touch), along tap (or long touch), a touch and hold, a touch and drag, a doubletap, a drag, panning, a flick, a drag and drop, a sweep, and a swipe,but it is not limited thereto.

An input is not limited to the touch-based user gesture. For example,the input may be defined as a motion-based input or a vision-basedinput.

The motion-based input may be based on a user gesture based on themotion of the device applied by the user (e.g., device shaking anddevice tapping). For example, a user gesture of tapping the device twotimes or inclining the device toward a display position of a virtualspace, which will be described in relation to embodiments later below,may be set as a registration request input for information related to anapplication selected in the virtual space.

The vision-based input may be based on a user gesture that is recognizedby analyzing an input image acquired by a camera without contact to thedevice. For example, a spatial gesture of holding up a V sign with anindex finger and a middle finger may be set as a deletion request inputfor information related to an application included in the virtual space.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the attached drawings. In thefollowing description, like reference numerals denote like elements, andredundant descriptions thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for providing information based ona context of a device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 100 for providing information may includea device 110, a network 120, and an external device 130.

Examples of the device 110 may include smartphones, smart TeleVisions(TVs), Personal Computers (PCs), desktop PCs, notebook computers, smartboards, tablets, mobile devices, handheld devices, handheld computers,media players, electronic book (e-book) terminals, Personal DigitalAssistants (PDAs), digital cameras capable of inputting a touch-baseduser gesture, and digital Consumer Electronics (CE) devices (e.g.,devices capable of inputting a user gesture based on a touch and animage display), but it is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment, the device 110 may create a virtual spacecorresponding to a current context of the device 110 regardless of theexternal device 130, display the virtual space on a screen of the device110 and register information related to an item corresponding to thecurrent context in the virtual space. That is, the device 110 mayoperate with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing informationbased on a context of a device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the device 110 creates and displays a virtual spacecorresponding to a context of the device 110 regardless of the externaldevice 130, registers information related to an item corresponding tothe context in the virtual space, and makes the virtual space disappearfrom a screen of the device 110 when the context of the device 110changes.

In operation S201, the device 110 detects a context. The context mayinclude position information of the device 110, time information, usehistory information of a user, a spatial context of the device 110, aphysical context of the user of the device 110, and environmentalinformation of the device 110, but it is not limited thereto. When thecontext of the device 110 is a current context of the device 110, theposition information of the device 110 includes current positioninformation and the time information of the device 110 includes currenttime information.

The position information of the device 110 may include, for example,name information, such as home, a coffee shop, a name of a place, a nameof a building, and an address based on physical positions, but it is notlimited thereto. The spatial context of the device 110 may include, forexample, information based on a position, movement direction, andmovement speed of the device 110, but it is not limited thereto. Thephysical context of the device 110 may include, for example, informationbased on a pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, and voice of theuser, but it is not limited thereto. The environmental context of thedevice 110 may include, for example, information based on thesurrounding temperature, the surrounding humidity, the surroundingillumination, and the surrounding noise of the device 110, but it is notlimited thereto.

In order to detect the context of the device 110, the device 110 mayinclude various sensors. For example, when the context of the device 110is based on position information, the device 110 may detect currentposition information by using an acceleration sensor, a geomagneticsensor, and a gyro sensor.

Also, when the context of the device 110 is based on positioninformation, the device 110 may detect current position information ofthe device 110 by using beacon signal-based technology using RadioFrequency (RF), ultrasonic position recognition technology, positionrecognition technology using a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) signal, ZigBee®position recognition technology, and Global Positioning System (GPS)signal-based technology. In order to detect the current positioninformation of the device 110 by using the above technologies, thedevice 110 may include the suitable sensors.

In operation S202, the device 110 displays at least one virtual spacecorresponding to the detected context. The virtual space is createdaccording to the context of the device 110.

For example, when the context of the device 110 is determined to be aplace A, the device 110 creates a virtual space corresponding to theplace A and displays the virtual space on the screen of the device 110.To this end, the device 110 may store Table 1 below. Table 1 shows anexample in which a virtual space is set according to a current contextbased on a named place. The current context of Table 1 may be redefinedas a context. Table 1 may be stored in the external device 130 throughthe network 120, and may be provided to the device 110 in response tothe request of the device 110.

TABLE 1 Current Context Virtual Space Place A Virtual Space 1 Place BVirtual Space 2 Place C Virtual Space 3 Place D Virtual Space 4 . . . .. .

The virtual space may be set such that different virtual spaces arecreated according to the following various combinations; however, theembodiment is not limited thereto. For example, the virtual spaces maybe:

(1) Based on Position;

(2) Based on Position and Time;

(3) Based on Position and Date;

(4) Based on Time and Date;

(5) Based on Time, Position, and Date;

(6) Based on Time, Place, and Environment (e.g., a surroundingtemperature, a surrounding humidity, a surrounding illumination, and asurrounding noise of the device 110);

(7) Based on Position and Use History;

(8) Based on Time, Position, and Physical Context (e.g., the pulse,blood pressure, body temperature, and voice of the user of the device110); or

(9) Based on Spatial Context of the device 110 (e.g., the position,movement direction, and movement speed of the device 110).

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a virtualspace according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, a screen 300 corresponds to a case where a virtualspace is created and displayed as a fourth page of a home screen or alauncher. Therefore, the fourth page may be referred to as a virtualpage. When a number of items to be included in the virtual page goesbeyond a reference value, the device may create and display a pluralityof virtual pages. For example, when two virtual pages are created anddisplayed as illustrated in the screen 300 of FIG. 3, a fourth page anda fifth page (not illustrated in the screen 300 of FIG. 3) are createdand displayed as a virtual page. The reference value may be determinedaccording to a number of items that may be included in one virtual page.For example, a number of items that may be included in one virtual pageis up to 25, the reference value may be set to 25, but is limitedthereto. When a number of items to be included in the virtual page goesbeyond the reference value, the device may reduce a display size ofinformation related to the item to be display on the virtual page, anddisplay information related to items that exceed the reference value onthe virtual page.

As illustrated in the screen 300 of FIG. 3, the virtual page is notlimited to the last page. That is, the virtual page may be created anddisplayed as a first page or a predetermined page. When the first pageis to be set as a virtual page in the home screen, the virtual page mayinclude a launcher program.

Also, the home screen may be referred to as a first screen. The firstscreen is a screen that is first displayed in the device 110 when thedevice 110 is powered on or an operation mode of the device 110 convertsfrom a standby mode to an active mode. Therefore, the virtual page maybe referred to as a virtual page of the first screen.

The device 110 displays an index 302 of the virtual page differentlyfrom an index of non-virtual page of the home screen. For example, asillustrated in the screen 300 of FIG. 3, the index of non-virtual pageis displayed as including numerical information in a circle, while theindex of the virtual page is displayed as including numericalinformation in a star. Accordingly, the user may intuitively recognizethe virtual page.

The device 110 may be preset such that the index of the virtual page isdisplayed differently from the index of non-virtual page by using colorinformation, size information, animation information, or characterinformation.

A screen 310 of FIG. 3 corresponds to a case where a virtual space isdisplayed in a predetermined display region of a predetermined page.That is, the screen 310 of FIG. 3 corresponds to a case where thevirtual space is displayed in a display region 312 located at a topportion of a first page 311 of the home screen. In screen 310 of FIG. 3,because the virtual space 312 is displayed in a different color thananother display region (or non-virtual space) of the first page 311, theuser may intuitively recognize that the virtual space is created. Asillustrated in the first page 311 of FIG. 3, the virtual space may bedisplayed in another empty display region of the first page 311, inanother region of another page, or in the same display region of eachpage of the home screen.

The virtual space is a GUI element that is configured to registerinformation related to an application, content, and a service that maybe executed by the device 110. However, for convenience of description,related information registered in the virtual space will be referred toas information related to an application. Therefore, in the followingdescription, information related to an application may be understood asinformation related to an item, such as information related to contentor information related to a service.

When created first according to the context of the device 110, thevirtual space may be an empty space that does not include anyinformation related to an application, as illustrated in the displayregion 312 of FIG. 3. Also, the virtual space may be referred to as aGUI element that is displayed in a predetermined display region of apredetermined page.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in operation S203, the device 110 may displaya list including information related to an application and may registerinformation related to an application, which is selected from thedisplayed list, in the virtual space. When the information related to anapplication includes a shortcut icon of an application, registering theinformation related to an application corresponding to the detectedcontext of the device 110 in the virtual space may mean linking theshortcut icon to the detected context and storing the linkinginformation between the shortcut icon and the detected context in thedevice 110. Accordingly, the shortcut icon is displayed in the virtualspace corresponding to the detected context of the device 110. When thevirtual space is displayed in the device 110, the information related toan application linked to the detected context may be temporarily stored.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are diagrams illustrating examples of screens forproviding information based on a context of a device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the device 110 displays a screen 410 includinga first page 411 of a home screen, if a virtual page is createdaccording to the context of the device 110, the screen 410 of the device110 changes into a screen 420 that displays a first page 301 includingan index 302 of the virtual page. In the screen 420, icons included inthe first page 301 are the information related to an applicationdescribed above. The first page 301 may be displayed so as to includeinformation related to an application arranged as tiles as shown in FIG.4. However, the first page 301 may be displayed so as to includeinformation related to an application arranged in a list. Theinformation related to an application arranged as tiles or theinformation related to an application arranged in a list may be referredto as a list regarding the information related to an application.

When a user input of selecting one shortcut icon (or one piece ofapplication-related information) 431 from the list regarding theinformation related to an application arranged in the tile-type isreceived and a touch-and-drag on the selected shortcut icon 431 in thedirection of the virtual page is detected as represented by an arrow 432or a touch-and-drag on the selected shortcut icon 431 toward a displaypoint of an index 302 of the virtual page is detected as represented byan arrow 433, the device 110 registers the selected shortcut icon 431 inthe virtual page such that the selected shortcut icon 431 is displayedon the virtual page. The registration of the selected shortcut icon 431in the virtual page may be performed based on a copy function.Accordingly, the selected icon 431 may be displayed on the virtual pageand the first page 301 of the home screen.

As illustrated in a screen 430, when information related to anapplication is registered in the virtual page and then a user inputrepresenting a move to the virtual page is received, the screen of thedevice 110 changes from the screen 430 to a screen 440. The user inputrepresenting a move to the virtual page may include a touch on the indexof the virtual page and a user gesture representing moving a screen(e.g., scrolling), but it is not limited thereto.

A virtual page 441 may include information related to the application431 registered in the screen 430, and text information 442 (e.g., placeA) indicating the context of the device 110, but it is not limitedthereto. The text information 442 indicating the context of the device110 may include name information, such as home, a coffee shop, a name ofa place, a name of a building, and an address based on a physicalposition, but it is not limited thereto. For example, the textinformation 442 may include a variety of information according tovirtual space classification criteria provided. The text informationindicating the above context may not be displayed on the virtual page441.

In addition to the information related to the application 431 registeredin the screen 430, the information displayed in the virtual page 441 mayfurther include at least one of information related to a pre-registeredapplication or information related to an application received from theexternal device 130.

Referring to FIG. 5, the device 110 displays a screen 510 of FIG. 5including a first page 511 (or a first screen) of the home screen, whichdoes not include related information in the virtual space as illustratedin the screen 410 of FIG. 4. When the context of the device 110 isdetected and a virtual space is created by the device 110, the device110 changes the screen 510 into a screen 520 displaying a first page 311including a virtual space 312 as illustrated in the screen 420 of FIG.4.

When a signal indicating a selection of an icon 531 is received in thefirst page 311 and a signal indicating dragging of the selected icon 531to the virtual space 312 is detected, a screen 530 of the device 110changes into a screen 540 including a first page 542 including a virtualspace 541 including the selected icon 531.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in operation S204, when the context changes,the device 110 makes the virtual space (or the index of the virtualspace) disappear from the home screen and stores information about thevirtual space therein.

That is, referring to screen 440 of FIG. 4 or the screen 540 of FIG. 5,if it is determined that the context of the device 110 changes, thedevice 110 may change the displayed screen from the screen 440 to thescreen 410 or from the screen 540 to the screen 510, but is not limitedthereto.

Referring to FIG. 6, the device 110 displays screen 610 including thefirst page 411 of the home screen when the virtual page is not createdby the device 110. In this case, when the virtual page is created by thedevice 110, the screen 610 displayed in the device 110 changes into ascreen 620 displaying a first page 301 including an index 302 of thevirtual page.

When the screen 620 is displayed, if it is recognized that the contextof the device 110 changes, the device 110 changes the displayed screen620 into a screen 630 including the first page 411 from which the index302 of the virtual page is removed. In this case, information about thevirtual page is stored in the device 110.

Referring back to FIG. 2, operation S204 may be modified in such amanner that, when the context of the device 110 changes, informationabout the current virtual space is stored in the device 110 and a newvirtual space corresponding to the changed context is displayed on ascreen of the device 110.

For example, referring back to the screen 440 of FIG. 4, if the contextof the device 110 changes and a virtual space corresponding to thechanged context is created, the device 110 changes the screen 440 into ascreen 450 displaying a new virtual page 451. The new virtual page 451includes text information 455 (e.g., place B) indicating the contextsand information related to an application 452, 453 and 454. However, theinformation included in the virtual page 451 is not limited thereto. Forexample, the text information indicating the context of the virtual page451 may not be displayed.

Also, when the context of the device 110 changes in a state where thevirtual page is not opened and a new virtual page is createdaccordingly, the device 110 may display information indicating that thecurrently-created virtual page is a newly-created virtual page.

That is, referring to the screen 620 of FIG. 6, if the context of thedevice 110 changes as described above and a new virtual space 641 iscreated, the device 110 changes the screen 620 into the screen 640 andstores information about the previous virtual page therein. Referring tothe screen 640, a symbol “+” 642 indicating a change of the virtual page641 may be added to the index 302 of the virtual page such that the usermay intuitively recognize the change of the virtual page. However, thesymbol 642 indicating the change of the virtual page is not limited thatillustrated in the screen 640 of FIG. 6.

The device 110 may determine a change of the context by detecting thecontext at predetermined periods and comparing the previously-detectedcontext and the currently-detected context. For example, when thecurrently-detected context is different from the previously-detectedcontext, the device 110 determines that the context of the device 110has changed. An error margin or an error tolerance may be applied indetermining whether the context has changed. For example, when thephysical position of the device 110 is based on a room of a house, theerror margin or the error tolerance may be applied such that the changeof the context of the device 110 may be determined based on a roomregion based on an arrangement plan of a home.

Also, the flowchart of FIG. 2 may be modified in such a manner that anapplication is executed based on the information related to theapplication included in the virtual page or the information related tothe application may be deleted. That is, the flowchart of FIG. 2 may addan operation to execute an application based on information related tothe application 431 or that the information related to the application431 may be deleted from the virtual page 441, when an execution requestor a deletion request based on the information related to theapplication 431 is received when the virtual page 441 is displayed onthe screen 440 of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 7, the device 110 displays a screen 710 including ahome screen prior to generation of a virtual space. When a virtual spaceis created by the device 110, the device 110 displays a screen 720including a first page 301 of the home screen including an index 302 ofa virtual page. When a request to move to the virtual page is received,the device 110 opens a virtual page 441 as shown in a screen 730. Whenan execution request based on the information related to the application431 is received in the state where the virtual page 441 is opened, thedevice 110 executes an application as shown in a screen 740. A web page,a picture, and multimedia content illustrated in the screen 740 indicatethat the execution of an item such as an application, content, or aservice.

In this manner, the device 110 registers information related to at leastone application set by the device 110 in the virtual page or the virtualspace created dynamically according to the context, and provides avirtual page or a virtual space including registered information relatedto the application when a context identical to the context of the device110 occurs in the future. The information related to the applicationincluded in the virtual page or the virtual space may be understood asrecommended information linked to the context of the device 110.Accordingly, the user may easily and quickly recognize and use anapplication, content, and a service related to the context of the device110.

The device 110 may provide the context to the external device 130connected through the network 120 and may receive information about thevirtual space from the external device 130 and display the same.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, the operation flow of FIG. 8 may be performed whenthere is no virtual space stored in the device 110. That is, afterdetection of the context of the device 110, when information about thevirtual space is not present in the device 110 or the virtual space isnot created by the device 110, information about the virtual space maybe received from the external device 130 as illustrated in FIG. 8.However, without determining whether the virtual space is present in thedevice 110 or whether the virtual space is created by the device 110,when detecting the context of the device 110, the device 110 may requestinformation about the virtual space from the external device 130.

In operation S801, the device 110 detects a context. The detection ofthe context of the device 110 may be performed in the same manner as inoperation S201 of FIG. 2. When detecting the context of the device 110,the device 110 transmits the detected context to the external device 130through the network 120 in operation S802.

In operation S803, the external device 130 searches for informationabout the virtual space based on the received context. To this end, theexternal device 130 pre-stores information about the virtual space basedon various contexts. Therefore, the external device 130 may include aserver providing information about the virtual space, a cloud server, ora communication device such as the device 110 that creates a virtualspace according to the current context and stores information related toan application registered by a user of the external device 130, but itis not limited thereto. The external device 130 may search forinformation about the virtual space based on information stored inanother external device (not illustrated) that is connected to theexternal device 130.

When the information about the virtual space corresponding to thecontext of the device 110 is found, the external device 130 transmitsthe found information about the virtual space to the device 110 inoperation S804. Accordingly, the device 110 displays the virtual spacebased on the received information about the virtual space in operationS805.

The virtual space may be displayed as illustrated in at least one ofFIGS. 2 to 7. However, when displaying the information related to theapplication included in the virtual space, the device 110 may displaythe information related to the application such that the user mayintuitively recognize whether the received information related to theapplication is not or is not set in the device 110 or.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example screen for describing information relatedto item included in a virtual space according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, the device 110 displays a screen 910 with virtualpage 911 including information related to an application 912, 913 and914. The information related to the application 912 and 913 isinformation related to an application that is set in the device 110. Theinformation related to the application 914 is information related to anapplication that is not set in the device 110. The screen 910 is anexample in which the information related to the application 912 and 913is represented in a different color than the information related to theapplication 914. The information related to the application 912 and 913may be displayed opaquely, and the information related to theapplication 914 may be displayed transparently.

A screen 920 of FIG. 9 corresponds to a case where the virtual space isdisplayed as illustrated in the screen 310 of FIG. 3. The screen 920 isan example in which a first page 921 including a virtual space 922including information related to the application 912, 913 and 914identical to the information related to the application 912, 913 and 914included in the virtual page 911 of the screen 910 is displayed.

When the user desires to use the information related to the application913, which is not set in the device 110, and a setting command based onthe information related to the application 913 is input by the user, thedevice 110 downloads an application corresponding to the informationrelated to the application 913 from the external device 130 through thenetwork 120. The setting command based on the information related to theapplication 913 may include, for example, a touch-based user gesturesuch as a long touch, a double touch, a sweep, and a swipe, but it isnot limited thereto.

However, instead of downloading the application from the external device130, the device 110 may transmit an execution request to the externaldevice 130, receive and display execution result of the external device130 as if the application is executed by the device 110.

When the execution of the application is requested based on theinformation related to the application 912 and 913 illustrated in thescreens 910 and 920, the device 110 may execute the correspondingapplication.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the received information about the virtualspace may be stored in the device 110 and then used when the samesituation occurs next. When the stored virtual space is used, the device110 may request information about the virtual space from the externaldevice 130 in order to obtain information related to an application(information related to an additional application) other than theinformation related to the application registered in the virtual spacestored in the device 110. In this case, the device 110 compares theinformation related to the application included in the information aboutthe virtual space received from the external device 130 and theinformation related to the application included in the virtual spacestored in the device 110, disregards information related to an identicalapplication, and registers only information related to a non-identicalapplication in the virtual space so that information related to thenon-identical application is additionally displayed in the virtualspace.

However, when registering the information related to the applicationreceived from the external device 130 in the virtual space, the device110 compares the information related to the application pre-registeredin the virtual space and the information related to the receivedapplication. From a result of the comparison, additional information(e.g., a predetermined symbol) may be attached to the informationrelated to the application prior to display, or the information relatedto the application may be displayed differently from the informationrelated to other application so as to be distinguishable so that theuser may intuitively recognize that the information related to theidentical application is information related to the application providedby both the device 110 and the external device 130.

Therefore, the information related to the application included in thevirtual space may be displayed separately according to the followinglist, but is not limited thereto.

(1) Information related to an application that is registered by thedevice 110 (or information related to an application that ispre-registered in the virtual space stored in the device 110 based onthe context of the device 110)

(2) Information related to an application that is registered by both thedevice 110 and the external device 130

(3) Information related to an application that is registered by theexternal device 130 and is set in the device 110

(4) Information related to an application that is registered by theexternal device 130 and is not set in the device 110

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, by communicating with the external device 130, thedevice 110 may display the virtual space and register informationrelated to an application.

In operation S1001, the device 110 detects a context. When a virtualspace is created according to the detected context, the device 110displays the created virtual space in operation S1002.

In operation S1003, the device 110 transmits the detected context of thedevice 110 to the external device 130. Accordingly, the external device130 searches for information about the virtual space based on thereceived context of the device 110 in operation S1004. In response tofinding the information about the virtual space, the external device 130transmits the information about the found virtual space to the device110 in operation S1005.

When receiving information about the virtual space from the externaldevice 130, the device 110 registers the information related to anapplication included in the information about the virtual space in thevirtual space that is currently displayed in operation S1006. Wheneverregistering the information related to an application received from theexternal device 130 in the virtual space, the device 110 may compare thereceived information related to an application with the pre-registeredinformation related to an application and register the receivedinformation related to the application as described above.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing informationbased on a context of a device according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, a case where the device 110 transmits informationabout the virtual space to the external device 130 is illustrated.

In operation S1101, the device 110 detects a context. The device 110displays the virtual space corresponding to the detected context of thedevice 110 therein in operation S1102. In this case, the virtual spacemay be displayed as illustrated in the screen 310 of FIG. 3, only theindex of the virtual page may be displayed as illustrated in the screen310, or an open virtual page may be displayed as illustrated in thescreen 440 of FIG. 4.

When receiving a request for registering information related to at leastone application in the virtual space based on a list includinginformation related to an application described in relation to the aboveembodiments in operation S1103, the device 110 registers informationrelated to the requested application in the virtual space in operationS1104. The information about the virtual space including the informationrelated to the application registered by the device and the context ofthe device 110 are transmitted to the external device 130 in operationS1105.

The external device 130 stores the received context of the device 110and the information about the virtual space in operation S1108. Theexternal device 130 detects a context of the external device 130 inoperation S1109. The detection of the context of the external device 130may be performed in the same manner as the detection of the context ofthe device 1100 in S201 of FIG. 2.

When the detected context of the external device 130 is identical to thereceived context of the device 110, the external device 130 displays thevirtual space based on the received information about the virtual spacein operation S1110. When the registration of information related to anew application based on a list including the information related to atleast one application, which may be displayed on a screen of theexternal device 130, in the displayed virtual space is requested inoperation S1111, the external device 130 registers and displays theinformation related to the new application in the virtual space. Thevirtual space displayed in operation S1110 may be identical to thescreen 300 of FIG. 3, the screen 310 of FIG. 3, or the screen 440 ofFIG. 4, but is not limited thereto. Also, the external device 130 maydelete the information related to the application included in thedisplayed virtual space or may execute an application based on theinformation related to the application.

When the device 110 receives a request for executing an applicationbased on the information related to the application included in thevirtual space or deleting the information related to an application inoperation S1106, the device 110 executes the application or deletes theinformation related to the application in operation S1107.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing informationbased on a context of a device, according to another embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, a case is illustrated where a currently-executedapplication is registered in the virtual space created according to thecontext of the device 110 during execution of the application.

In operation S1201, the device 110 detects a context. The detection ofthe context may be performed in the same manner as in operation S201 ofFIG. 2.

In operation S1202, the device 110 creates a virtual space correspondingto the current context. In operation S1203, the device 110 executes anitem, such as an application, content, or a service.

When receiving a registration request signal in the virtual space inoperation S1204, the device 110 registers and displays informationrelated to the executed application, content or service in the virtualspace in operation S1205.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example screen for describing theflowchart of FIG. 12 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13, when a virtual page is created in a screen 1310 bythe device 110, a home screen including an index of the virtual page isdisplayed on a screen of the device 110, and then one of a web page, apicture, and multimedia content is executed based on an icon, the screenof the device 110 changes from the screen 1310 to a screen 1320. Thescreen executed based on the icon is not limited to the screen 1320 ofFIG. 13.

When a shared button 1233 is selected in the screen 1320, the device 110displays a pop-up window 1331 including a menu item of a lower layer inscreen 1330. When a registration request item 1332 is included in avirtual page of the pop-up window 1331 and a selection on theregistration request item 1332 is detected in the virtual page, thedevice 110 registers and displays information related tocurrently-executed application in the virtual page in the virtual page.

The device 110 may change a displayed screen 1330 into a screen 1340including a virtual page 1341, and notify the user about theregistration of information related to the new application 1342. Theinformation related to the new application 1342 may be turned on for apredetermined period of time or may maintain a highlight state todistinguish the information related to the new application from theinformation related to the previous application, but is not limitedthereto.

The network 120 of FIG. 1 may be configured based on wirelesscommunication or wired communication. When the network 120 is configuredbased on wireless communication, the network 120 may include, forexample, wireless networks such as a direct Wireless connection (e.g.,WiFi Direct), ZigBee®, Bluetooth®, Infrared Data Association (IrDA),Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication(NFC)-based communication, Wireless LAN (e.g., WiFi) passing through anAP, 3G/4G-based communication, Internet, Wireless Intranet, WirelessTelephone Network, and Ultra WideBand, but the present disclosure is notlimited thereto. The network 120 based on wired communication may useone of schemes using power lines (e.g., home Phoneline Network Alliance(PNA)), schemes using power lines (e.g., HomePlug, LongWorks, and HNCP),schemes using Ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.3), and structured wiringschemes, but is not limited thereto.

The external device 130 may be identical to the device 110 or may bedifferent such as a cloud server that may provide information about avirtual space based on a context customized for the user of the device110, but is not limited thereto. The virtual space based on the contextcustomized for the user may include, for example, a virtual space basedon position information, in which the user desires to create a virtualspace.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the device 110 illustrated in FIG. 1according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, the device 110 may include an information inputprocessor 1401, a sensor 1402, a touch screen 1403, a camera 1404, anaudio input processor 1405, an audio output processor 1406, a storageunit 1407, a communication processor 1408, a context detector 1409, aprocessor 1410, and a power supply 1411. The configuration of the device110 is not limited to that illustrated in FIG. 14. That is, the device110 may include more components than the components illustrated in FIG.14, or may include less components. For example, the device 110 may notinclude the camera 1404.

The information input processor 1401 may input data for controlling anoperation of the device 110 and information for requesting the executionof a method of providing information based on the context of the device110 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, but the inputinformation is not limited thereto. The information input processor 1401may include at least one of a keypad, a dome switch, a jog wheel, a jogswitch, a HardWare (H/W) button, a hot key, and a touch panel, but it isnot limited thereto.

The sensor 1402 detects the current state of the device 110, such as theposition of the device 110, if a user contacts the device 110,orientation of the device 110, and acceleration/deceleration of thedevice 110 and then generates a sensing signal for controlling anoperation of the device 110. The sensor 1402 may include a proximitysensor and a motion sensor. The sensor 1402 may generate a detectionsignal regarding a sensor-based user gesture.

The proximity sensor detects the presence of an object approaching apredetermined detection surface or an object located in the proximitythereof by using an electromagnetic force or infrared rays. Examples ofproximity sensors may include transmission type photoelectric sensors,direct reflection type photoelectric sensors, mirror reflection typephotoelectric sensors, high frequency oscillation type proximitysensors, electrostatic capacity type proximity sensors, magnetic typeproximity sensors, and infrared proximity sensors.

The sensor 1402 may be included in the context detector 1409. Thecontext detector 1409 detects a context of the device 110. The contextdetector 1409 may further include various sensors, such as anacceleration sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and a gyro sensor, asdescribed in relation to operation S201 of FIG. 2, and may be configuredto detect various contexts described in relation to FIG. 2.

The touch screen 1403 may include a resistive (pressure-sensitive) touchscreen or a capacitive touch screen, but it is not limited thereto. Thetouch screen 1403 may receive a user request, a user selection, or auser command based on a touch-based user gesture. As the touch-baseduser gesture, various touch-based user gestures may be defined byvarious combinations of a touch count, a touch pattern, a touch area,and a touch strength. However, the touch-based user gesture is notlimited thereto.

The touch screen 1403 may include various sensors for detecting aproximity touch or a touch to the touch screen 1403. The sensor includedin the touch screen 1403 may generate a sensing signal for thetouch-based user gestures or patterns. A proximity sensor for the touchscreen 1403 may be identical to a proximity sensor included in thesensor 1402.

An example of the sensor for detecting a touch to the touch screen 1403may include a tactile sensor. The tactile sensor may detect a variety ofinformation, such as the roughness of a contact surface, the hardness ofa contact object, and the temperature of a contact point. The proximitysensor is a sensor that detects the presence of an object approaching adetection surface or an object located in the proximity thereof by usingan electromagnetic force or infrared rays. Examples of proximity sensorsmay include transmission type photoelectric sensors, direct reflectiontype photoelectric sensors, mirror reflection type photoelectricsensors, high frequency oscillation type proximity sensors,electrostatic capacity type proximity sensors, magnetic type proximitysensors, and infrared proximity sensors.

A touch to the touch screen 1403 corresponds to a pointer touching atouch panel. A proximity touch to the touch screen 1403 corresponds to acase where a pointer approaches a touch panel within a predetermineddistance without touching the touch panel. The point is a tool fortouching or proximity-touching a predetermined portion of the touchscreen 1403. Examples of the pointer may include a stylus pen and afinger, but it is not limited thereto.

The touch screen 1403 displays information processed by the device 110.For example, the touch screen 1403 may display a screen for respondingto a user gesture or a touch pattern sensed through the sensors includedin the touch screen 1403, control data or user input information inputthrough the information input processor 1401, or a signal sensed throughthe sensor 1402.

In order to perform a method of providing information based on a contextof a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thetouch screen 1403 transmits a user input indicating a selection of theinformation related to an application included in the displayed virtualpage to the processor 1410. When a virtual space is created by theprocessor 1410, the touch screen 1403 displays the received virtualspace.

The touch screen 1403 displays the screens illustrated above based onthe control of the processor 1410, receives a touch-based input based onthe displayed screen, and transmits the same to the processor 1410. Thescreen displayed on the touch screen 1403 may be referred to as UserInterface (UI)-based feedback information on the input.

The touch screen 1403 may be referred to as an information input/outputdevice. The screen displayed on the touchscreen 1403 may include aUI-based GUI screen.

The touch screen 1403 may include at least one of Liquid Crystal Display(LCD), Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD), OrganicLight-Emitting Diode (OLED), flexible display, three-Dimensional (3D)display, and Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (AMOLED), but itis not limited thereto. The touch screen 1403 may be referred to as adisplay. Two or more touch screens 1403 may be provided according toembodiments.

The camera 1404 processes an image frame such as a still image or amoving image obtained by an image sensor (or an optical sensor) in avideo call mode or a photograph mode. The processed image frame may bedisplayed on the touch screen 1403. Accordingly, a spatial gesture,which is defined to perform a method of providing information based on acontext of a device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, may be recognized based on the image frame included in thestill image of the moving image obtained by the camera 1404.

The image frame processed by the camera 1404 may be stored in thestorage unit 1407 or may be transmitted through the communicationprocessor 1408. Two or more cameras 1404 may be provided according tothe configurations of the device 110. Also, the camera 1404 may be usedas an input device for recognizing a spatial gesture of the user.

In a call mode, a recording mode, or a voice recognition mode, the audioinput processor 1405 receives an external sound signal, converts thereceived sound signal into audio data, and transmits the audio data tothe processor 1410. The audio input processor 1405 may include, forexample, a microphone. The audio input processor 1405 may includevarious noise cancellation algorithms for canceling a noise that may begenerated during the input of an external sound signal.

The sound signal input via the audio input processor 1405 may includeuser input for requesting the execution of a method of providinginformation based on a context of a device according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. When the sound signal is user input based on aspoken language, the sound signal may be referred to as a user inputbased on voice recognition. The external sound signal input through theaudio input processor 1405 may be stored in the storage unit 1407 or maybe transmitted via the communication processor 1408.

In a call mode or an audio play mode, the audio output processor 1406outputs a sound signal or an audio signal that is received from theoutside or read from the storage unit 1407. The audio output processor1406 may include, for example, a speaker. When an audio signal isincluded in content that is reproduced, the audio output processor 1406outputs an audio signal included in the reproduced content. The audioinput processor 1405 and the audio output processor 1406 may beintegrated as a headset.

The storage unit 1407 stores at least one program and/or an instructionset and resources that are executable in the processor 1410. The atleast one program may include at least one program for executing amethod of providing information based on a context of the device 110according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an operatingsystem of the device 110, application programs related to variousfunctions (or services) performed by the device 110, service programs,and programs for operating hardware components included in the device110, but is not limited thereto.

The resources may include content that may be reproduced according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, information about the virtualspace that may be provided according to the context detected by thedevice 110 as shown in Table 1, information related to at least oneapplication included in the virtual space, and list informationincluding the information related to the at least one application, butis not limited thereto.

Also, the resources may include user information of the device 110,information necessary to operate an application program set in thedevice 110, and information necessary to execute a program for operatingthe hardware components, but is not limited thereto.

The storage unit 1407 may include at least one type of storage mediumamong flash memory type, hard disk type, multimedia card micro type,card type memory (e.g., SD and XD memories), Read-Only Memory (ROM),Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory (EEPROM),Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), magnetic memory, and an opticaldisk.

The at least one program and/or instruction set stored in the storageunit 1407 may be divided into a plurality of modules according tofunctions. For example, the storage unit 1407 may include an operatingsystem, a communication module, a graphic module, a GPS module, a UImodule, a sensing module, a contact and motion module, a power supplymodule, and an application module, but the present disclosure is notlimited thereto.

The application module may include a plurality of applications necessaryto execute a method of providing information based on a context of thedevice 110 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Theplurality of applications may include a launcher application. Thelauncher application may display a virtual space on a home screen asdescribed in the various embodiments. For example, by the launcherapplication, the virtual space may be displayed as illustrated in thescreen 300 of FIG. 3, or may be displayed as illustrated in the screen310 of FIG. 3. However, the display pattern of the virtual space is notlimited to the above embodiments.

The communication processor 1408 may communicate data with an externaldevice through wireless networks such as Wireless InternetCommunication, Wireless Intranet Communication, Wireless TelephoneNetwork, Wireless LAN Communication, WiFi Communication, WiFi Direct,3rd Generation (3G) Communication, 4th Generation (4G) communicationsuch as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Bluetooth®, IrDA, RFID, UWBCommunication, and ZigBee®; however, the present disclosure is notlimited thereto.

The communication processor 1408 may include at least one of a broadcastreception module, a mobile communication module, a wireless Internetmodule, a wired Internet module, a NFC module, and a positioninformation module, but it is not limited thereto.

The communication processor 1408 may further include a wiredcommunication function for communicating data with the external device130 through a wired network. The wired communication function maycommunicate data with an external device (not illustrated) by using aplug-and-play interface such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port (notillustrated).

The communication processor 1408 may be used to transmit data to theexternal device 130 and receive data from the external device 130, asillustrated in FIGS. 8,10 and 11.

The power supply 1411 supplies power to the hardware components includedin the device 110. The power supply 1411 includes one or more powersupplies such as a battery and an AC power supply. The device 110 maynot include the power supply 1411, and may include a connection unit(not illustrated) that is connectable to an external power supply (notillustrated). The connection unit may be configured based on at leastone of wireless-type and wire-type.

The processor 1410 controls an overall operation of the device 110, andmay be referred to as one or more processors. By using the variousmodules and the operating system stored in the storage unit 1407, theprocessor 1410 may control all of the information input processor 1401,the sensor 1402, the touchscreen 1403, the camera 1404, the audio inputprocessor 1405, the audio output processor 1406, the storage unit 1407,the communication processor 1408, the context detector 1409, and thepower supply unit 1411. Therefore, the processor 1410 may be referred toas a controller, a microprocessor, or a digital signal processor.

Also, by using the operating system and the UI module, the processor1410 may provide a user interface by the information input processor1401, the sensor 1402, the touchscreen 1403, the camera 1404, and theaudio input processor 1405.

The processor 1410 may perform the operation flows illustrated in FIGS.2, 8, 10, 11 and 12 by executing at least one program related to amethod of providing information based on a context according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The processor 1410 may read theprogram from the storage unit 1407 and execute the same, or may downloadthe program from the external device 130 connected through thecommunication processor 1408 and execute the same. In this case, theexternal device 130 may be referred to as an application providingserver or an application market server. As described above, the externaldevice 130 may include a cloud server or a communication device aroundthe device 110, but is not limited thereto. The processor 1410 may beunderstood as including an interface function unit between the processor1410 and the various components in the device 110.

In the above embodiments, an example in which information related to anapplication is included in a virtual space has been described. However,the virtual space may further include information related to multimediacontent or information related to at least one service corresponding tothe context of the device 110. The information related to the multimediacontent and the information related to the service may be referred to asinformation related to an item in a type different from the applicationas described above. Therefore, the virtual space according to anembodiment may include information related to different types of itemscorresponding to the context of the device 110. Also, the virtual spacemay include information related to a plurality of item (e.g.,information related to a plurality of application or information relatedto a plurality of multimedia).

One or more program modules including instructions allowing a controllerto implement the methods of providing information based on a context ofa device and may be recorded as computer-readable codes on anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium. The non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium may be any data storage device thatmay store data which may be thereafter read by a computer system.Examples of the computer-readable recording medium may include Read-OnlyMemory (ROM), Random-Access Memory (RAM), Compact Disc (CD)-ROMs,magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. Thecomputer-readable recording medium may also be distributed overnetwork-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code maybe stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

It should be understood that the various embodiments described hereinshould be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodimentshould typically be considered as available for other similar featuresor aspects in other embodiments.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a first sensor configured todetect location information of the device; a touch screen; and aprocessor configured to: control the touch screen to display a screen onthe touch screen when an operation mode of the device changes from astandby mode to an active mode, detect use history information of thedevice, identify a first application based on the location informationof the device and the use history information of the device, and controlthe touch screen to display information related to the identified firstapplication on a part of the screen as recommended information.
 2. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the first application comprises anapplication that is frequently used by the device.
 3. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: execute thefirst application when the information related to the first applicationis selected via the touch screen.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: detect, via the first sensor, thatthe location information of the device has changed to other locationinformation of the device, and in response to detecting the changing ofthe location information of the device into the other locationinformation of the device, change the information related to the firstapplication into information related to a second application, the secondapplication being based on the other location information of the deviceand the use history information of the device.
 5. The device of claim 1,further comprising: a second sensor configured to detect healthinformation of a user of the device, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: identify a third application based on the healthinformation of the user of the device, the location information of thedevice, and the use history information of the device, and control thetouch screen to display information related to the identified thirdapplication on the part of the screen as the recommended information. 6.The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:control the touch screen to display the screen on the touch screen whenthe device is powered on or when the operation mode of the devicechanges from the standby mode to the active mode.
 7. A method ofproviding information by a device, the method comprising: detecting, bythe device, location information of the device; displaying a screen on atouch screen of the device when an operation mode of the device changesfrom a standby mode to an active mode; detecting use history informationof the device; identifying a first application based on the locationinformation of the device and the use history information of the device;and displaying information related to the identified first applicationon a part of the screen as recommended information.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the first application comprises an application that isfrequently used by the device.
 9. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: executing the first application when the information relatedto the first application is selected via the touch screen.
 10. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: detecting that the locationinformation of the device has changed to other location information ofthe device via a first sensor of the device, and in response todetecting the changing of the location information of the device intothe other location information of the device, changing the informationrelated to the first application into information related to a secondapplication, the second application being based on the other locationinformation of the device and the use history information.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: detecting health information of auser of the device by a second sensor of the device; identifying a thirdapplication based on the health information of the user of the device,the location information of the device, and the use history informationof the device; and displaying information related to the identifiedthird application on the part of the screen as the recommendedinformation.
 12. The method of claim 7, further comprising: displayingthe screen on the touch screen when the device is powered on or when theoperation mode of the device changes from the standby mode to the activemode.
 13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprisinginstructions for executing a method of providing information by adevice, the method comprising: detecting, by the device, locationinformation of the device; displaying a screen on a touch screen of thedevice when an operation mode of the device changes from a standby modeto an active mode; detecting use history information of the device;identifying a first application based on the location information of thedevice and the use history information of the device; and displayinginformation related to the identified first application on a part of thescreen as recommended information.